If you know our reviews, you know we love skins. We've seen some great collections from GelaSkins, SkinIt and more. DomeSkin however is quite a different kind of skin with its thicker material that's more protective of your devices and provides a grippier surface. One thing you will get though is some bright and colorful art designs you get on other skins. Though the iPad 2 and iPad 3 art collection has only two dozen designs, most of them look unique and alluring.

Design

First of all, the DomeSkin material is very different from the thin vinyl based skins we've seen before. The DomeSkin is made with a thicker armor/resin, also by 3M like with many other vinyl based skins, and has noticeably more padding than the other skins. 3D layer, as DomeSkin calls it, provides the extra protection from pokes, bumps and nicks to the back of the iPad and the front bezel, though it doesn't cover the edges or corners of the iPad 2 or iPad 3. The thicker skin also has a unique grippy feel to it that it almost feels a bit sticky when you take it off a flat surface. It will absolutely prevent your iPad from slipping on a smooth or shiny surface.

DomeSkin has a very large collection of skin designs for the iPhone and iPod models, and only a small portion of them made it to the iPad tablets. The DomeSkin Almond Bloosom design from Vincent van Gogh's painting is one of the popular designs, and we see why that is. The beautiful, eye-catching painting of almond blossoms setting against a turquoise background gives the skin an elegant and captivating look. The larger space on the iPad (vs. an iPhone or an iPod) only enhances that effect. Though the painting looks more muted in colors compared to some other arts in the collection, it attracts one's attention right away, and fits in most environments.

Features

As mentioned the DomeSkin Almond Blossom covers most of the iPad's back and the front bezel. The skin has perfect cutouts in the front for the front camera and the Home button on both iPad 2 and iPad 3. And since it doesn't cover the sides of the iPad, you have free access to all the ports and buttons on the iPad 3. The skin has a cutout for the rear camera and the speaker grill, again for both iPad 2 and iPad 3.

The DomeSkin is very easy to install: just peel them off the waxy storage paper and line up on one side of the iPad and push the rest of the skin onto the tablet. The DomeSkin doesn't leave any residue when you take it off, and it's reusable. Though the skin will eventually lose the strength to adhere, it's a lot more reusable thanks to the thicker body and stronger material than the thin vinyl skins.

Conclusion

You can call the DomeSkin "Skins 2.0" because these skins are more durable, have more padding and provide more protection than the thin vinyl based skins. The surface of the skin feels grippy and we certainly appreciate the added padding. The thicker skin is also easier to handle and reuse. While we love the Almond Blosson, you can find a lot more designs that look equally interesting and eye-popping in the collection. The only worry we had was that the sides and the corners of the tablet are uncovered by the skin and could potentially get scratched or bumped without any protection.